{"id":282321,"date":"2025-11-14T10:08:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T10:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/282321\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T10:08:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T10:08:18","slug":"review-of-dempseye-and-tunney-in-the-roaring-twenties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/282321\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of ‘Dempseye and Tunney in the Roaring Twenties’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the annals of boxing\u2019s<\/a> greatest heavyweight champions, two names often enter the conversation: Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney. They each had Irish<\/a> backgrounds, were ring-savvy, had real punching power, and rarely lost. Their two titanic battles were highly anticipated events in the Roaring Twenties.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even though nearly a century has passed since they fought, \u201ctheir combined glitter captured the minds of and elicited roars from fans of the sport in the 1920s and the spotlight has never really worn off,\u201d writes Lew Freedman in his compelling new examination of this memorable rivalry, Dempsey and Tunney in the Roaring Twenties. An author and sportswriter for newspapers such as the Anchorage Daily News, Chicago Tribune, and Philadelphia Inquirer, he depicts them as a \u201cduo, linked together, almost as one.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The book places the pantheon of boxing alongside other 1920s-related sporting events, including the rise of the NFL<\/a>, Man o\u2019 War and horse racing, and tennis stars such as Suzanne Lenglen and Bill Tilden. Chapters are devoted to Charles Lindbergh \u201cflying solo\u201d across the Atlantic and the \u201cdisgraceful racial hatred\u201d of black boxing champions. But the main focus is Dempsey and Tunney, two exceptional heavyweight champions with distinct backgrounds and personalities. Dempsey was a \u201cpeople person\u201d and \u201cmore at ease with fans,\u201d while Tunney was \u201caloof\u201d with a \u201cdeep commitment to reading literature<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DempseyDempsey and Tunney in the Roaring Twenties; by Lew Freedman; McFarland & Co., Inc.; 242 pp., $29.95<\/p>\n

William Harrison Dempsey was born in June 1895 in Manassa, Colorado<\/a>. Harry, as he was called, first competed as \u201cKid Blackie\u201d and \u201cYoung Dempsey.\u201d He became \u201cJack\u201d Dempsey when he replaced his older brother, Bernie, in a 1914 fight against George Copelin. No matter what he was called, Dempsey was a great fighter and showman. He emulated the legendary bare-knuckles heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan by \u201cwaltzing into gyms\u201d and proclaimed he could \u201click any one of them.\u201d He possessed \u201cfists of thunder with a bazooka\u2019s knockout capacity.\u201d He lost fights to Jack Downey, Willie Meehan (twice), and Fireman Jim Flynn, but beat them all in rematches. His biggest moment was against heavyweight champion Jess Willard in 1919, who had defeated the first black champion, Jack Johnson. Dempsey, a \u201cno mercy guy who understood that the law of the ring was that the other guy was out to get you, so you\u2019d better be out to get him,\u201d dominated the taller and more experienced Willard. The fight was \u201ctotal destruction from start to finish,\u201d and a new champion was crowned.<\/p>\n

James Joseph Tunney was born to Irish immigrants in May 1897 in New York City<\/a>. He took the name \u201cGene\u201d because his younger sisters had \u201cdifficulty pronouncing James.\u201d He was a \u201cbookworm\u201d who not only \u201cread more Shakespeare<\/a> than the sports pen men, but he could also quote it.\u201d Tunney was also a skinny child, so his father bought him boxing gloves and taught him the art of pugilism. His parents hoped he would give up boxing for the priesthood, but their prayers weren\u2019t answered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tunney was inspired to \u201cbuild up his physique\u201d by President Theodore Roosevelt<\/a>, \u201ca champion of physical fitness.\u201d He boxed during his wartime stint in the Marines<\/a>. He beat light heavyweight greats Barney \u201cBattling\u201d Levinsky and Georges Carpentier. The only boxer who ever defeated him was Harry Greb, a talented fighter in spite of being relatively short and \u201cblind in one eye.\u201d Tunney beat Greb in several rematches, but praised his rival and stated, \u201c[H]e was never in one spot for more than half a second \u2026 it was like fighting an octopus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA huge crowd watches the heavyweight title fight between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier in 1921. (Library of Congress \/ Corbis \/ VCG via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The most intriguing sections of Dempsey and Tunney in the Roaring Twenties relate to their two fights and an unforgettable delayed count. The first bout occurred on Sept. 23, 1926, at Philadelphia\u2019s<\/a> Sesquicentennial Stadium in front of 120,557 people, including luminaries such as Babe Ruth and Charlie Chaplin. Dempsey was the favourite, but he was outboxed and outsmarted by Tunney. The title changed hands on a 10-round unanimous decision. Both men were gracious to one another, but sportswriters didn\u2019t shower the winner with glory. \u201cMore alibis for Dempsey appeared in print than positive notices for Tunney\u2019s star turn,\u201d Freedman writes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second bout occurred at Chicago\u2019s<\/a> Soldier Field on Sept. 22, 1927. Dubbed the \u201cBattle of the Century,\u201d it was witnessed by 104,943 fight fans. Tunney kept his distance from Dempsey and dominated the first six rounds. Then came \u201cThe Long Count,\u201d in which Dempsey knocked out Tunney in the seventh round but didn\u2019t go to a neutral corner. It was a new boxing rule that Dempsey wasn\u2019t used to and likely forgot. \u201cTunney was down from anywhere between 13 and 18 seconds,\u201d which gave him enough time to beat it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MAGAZINE: THE ETERNAL ARGUMENT OVER WHAT IS AND ISN\u2019T A SPORT<\/a><\/p>\n

Dempsey never recovered. He was knocked down by Tunney in the eighth round and, in a twist of irony, referee Dave Barry started counting before Tunney moved to a neutral corner. He held on and finished the fight. The result was another 10-round unanimous decision for Tunney. Yet, his image as an odd duck and bookworm persisted, whereas Dempsey\u2019s popularity rose in defeat. The Manassa Mauler would always be the people\u2019s champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dempsey and Tunney retired in 1927 and 1928, respectively. The old rivals later became friends. Dempsey even campaigned for Tunney\u2019s son, John, when he successfully ran for the U.S. Senate<\/a>. But as Freedman\u2019s excellent book shows, there was only room for one member of boxing \u201croyalty\u201d in the Roaring Twenties \u2014 and that was Jack, not Gene.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michael Taube, a columnist for National Post, Troy Media, and Loonie Politics, was a speechwriter for former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the annals of boxing\u2019s greatest heavyweight champions, two names often enter the conversation: Jack Dempsey and Gene…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[5533,353,703,49,48,128438,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-282321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-book-reviews","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-magazine-life-arts","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}